


April Archives

by thatzodiacsky



Category: Kagerou Project
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-02
Updated: 2013-10-13
Packaged: 2017-12-28 06:29:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/988816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatzodiacsky/pseuds/thatzodiacsky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Boys and girls, stand your ground. Ready or not, it’s your last chance to get it right.  Trio-centric high school au?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. HIDE

Kido adjusted the skirt of her new uniform, unable to keep a hint of pride from showing on her face. This year she was going to a new school, the same as her elder sister Ayano. It had been no surprise that she’d made it in; sad to say, as much as she idolized Ayano, the older girl’s grades weren’t that impressive, and if Ayano could get in, so could Kido. In fact, Kido was by far the best student in the family, followed by Kano (when he cared enough to show up). Ayano and Seto brought up the rear, both hard workers but absent minded, and far too honest to cheat, much to Kano’s disappointment.

But they’d all made it in, and now were all going to the same school. Kido had never been willing to accept the possibility of the three of them being split up, not in the orphanage and not now either, though the stakes weren’t quite as high. She’d forced the the boys to study until they were passing practice exams, and it had paid off.

With a tiny smile that she tried to hide, Kido buckled the clasp shut on her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She could see Ayano outside waiting for them through the window, so she made her way into the hallway, pausing to kick the nearest door with such precision and force that it flew open but didn’t break. Cries of outrage sounded from the room.

"What if I’d been dressing?" Kano demanded from the floor, where he was not dressing, but in fact eating from a bag of cookies and paging through a week-old manga magazine. Seto was struggling with his bag by the desk, and he paused to grin sheepishly at Kido.

"We’re a bit late, aren’t we?" he asked, wrestling with the clasp. She came over to help him, whacking the back of his head. "Thanks," he replied, grateful.

"We’re keeping Ayano waiting," she reprimanded, and Seto cringed guiltily. Kano didn’t seem half as bothered, rolling to his feet and stretching.

He was wearing a jacket over his uniform, and she thought about telling him it was too warm today, but really she had no room to talk. She too wore a hoodie, oversized and lavender, a close match for a sentimental article of clothing from her childhood. Even Seto, though she thought he would be the odd one out, grabbed his white jacket from the back of the desk chair and jogged out the door, leaving the two of them behind.

"Got everything?" she asked Kano, trying to sound stern. He grinned crookedly at her.

"You’re nervous," he guessed, not answering her question but sticking a pin right through the center of her whirling thoughts as always.

Not dignifying his apparent wizardry with an answer, she stuck her chin in the air and marched from the room, joining Seto and Ayano by the gate. Kano wasn’t far behind, and then they left for their first day of school.

…

At the school gates, Ayano wished them goodbye.

"Have a good first day!" she said, straightening Kido’s collar and combing her fingers through Kano’s bangs, which refused to lie flat. She reached up and Seto bent down obligingly so she could take the clip from his hair, holding it in her mouth as she re-parted the black strands and then clipped it in again. She looked the three of them over, and then clapped her hands, satisfied. "If anyone gives you trouble you tell your big sis and I’ll take care of ‘em, okay?" She struck a heroic pose, hands clenched into fists, and they laughed. All of them had outstripped Ayano in height years ago, but the idea of her standing up for them still brought them comfort.

She waved and left to join her classmates, immediately pinching the cheek of the closest and pulling his face into a smile. It was nice to see that her motherly tendencies were universal, Kido thought.

"Okay, so we’ve got to find the listings for our grade," Kido announced, looking around.

Kano pantomimed a ridiculous frown, tapping his chin. “What’ll we do if we’re in different classes?” His tone was joking, but Seto suddenly seemed worried, looking to Kido for comfort.

"They wouldn’t do that, right?" It was random, but it seemed a great injustice to separate them based on some classroom-filling formula.

Kido shrugged. “We won’t know until we check, and we’ve got to find the list to do that. We’re probably looking for a gaggle of lost-looking first years, in higher concentration than normal.”

"Wouldn’t that make us lost-looking first years ourselves?" Kano asked dryly, glancing around. Kido opened her mouth to reply but Seto cut her off, pointing excitedly.

"Is that it? Over there?" She followed his gaze and saw a series of large posters attached to bulletin boards. Students milled around, trying to get close enough to read it.

"Yeah, it is," Kido replied, zeroing in on it. "I’ll go check it for us." she turned her body sideways so she could fit through the crowd, elbowing and shouldering her way through to the front. She squinted up at the boards, trying to find their names.

As she scanned the lists, a hand grabbed her shoulder, and she jumped. “Right up there,” Kano said in her ear, just a touch too close for comfort, and she pulled her shoulder from his grasp, scowling. She followed his pointing finger, and there was her name, under class A. She kept looking. Kano too came up class A, and though it took her a second longer, she finally found Seto’s name, also labeled A. She heaved a sigh of relief, and Kano patted her back.

"How did you get up here?" she asked suddenly, remembering how difficult it had been to force her way to the front.

"You’re too harsh," he replied, putting a finger to his lips, and before she could decide if that was an answer or just a general statement, he’d taken a step backwards and vanished into the other students, as easily as if he’d walked through a curtain. She sighed and prepared to force her way back to where Seto hovered in the distance, but found that it was far easier going the other way. Relieved, she rejoined the boys.

"We’re all class A," she informed him, and Seto grinned and punched the air, delighted.

…

 

When they reached the classroom, it was only half full, and she realized they weren’t running as late as she’d thought. They went straight to the back, picking out a set of three seats; Seto in front, Kido behind him, and Kano off to her left. It was a formation perfected over the years; initially created to ward off bullies and keep Kano in check at the same time, it had become force of habit.

After they’d chosen seats they watched the rest of the students meander in, hanging their bags on the provided hooks. Kano was already making himself at home, tilting his chair back and resting his feet on the empty chair in front of him. Kido fought her instinct to kick his chair out from under him. Class hadn’t even started yet. There would be time for that later.

A group of girls in the front were giggling, and Kido eyed them uneasily. She didn’t mean to be hostile to outsiders, of course, but after she and her brothers had been rescued from various bad situations, she found it difficult to trust newcomers right away.  
Well, it’s not like she was here to make new friends. She had everyone she needed, in the form of her adoptive family. If she ever felt like something was missing, like she should have more friends that were girls, she didn’t let it show. There was no use in bothering anyone else.

She’d taken a pencil from her bag and was fiddling with it, twirling it between her fingers, when the teacher walked in. The students stood, and Kido leaned against her desk, already bored.

Chairs scraped as everyone sat down again, and she planted her elbows on the desk, sighing. The teacher introduced herself, and then announced, “I’m going to call roll, and when I call your name you can stand up and greet the class. Also, it’s fine where you’re sitting for now, but I’ll rearrange you soon.”

Nerves burned in Kido’s stomach. It wasn’t because of the change of seating arrangements. She could handle that easily enough, especially since it would essentially make Kano not her problem and she could wash her hands of the job of keeping him under control all class. She just hadn’t been expecting having to talk in front of everyone so early. What was she supposed to say? It was with a rush of relief that she realized she wouldn’t be the first of the three to speak.

In fact, it seemed Kano was being called right now. He got to his feet, stretching lazily. Kido saw the teacher bristle out of the corner of her eye, and knew she was marking him as a troublemaker already. Good for her. Maybe she’d fare better than their other teachers had in the past.

Kano grinned at the room. “It’s good to meet you,” he said, somehow sounding perfectly angelic, and Kido frowned. What was he planning? “We’re all going to have a great time this year,” he said, spreading his hands, and if you didn’t know him that would sound perfectly innocuous. But Kido knew him well enough to know that his tone of certainty was a sentence being passed down on their classroom, and that his definition of a ‘great time’ might not be ‘great’ for everyone.

Some of the girls up in the front row were staring at them, and Kido took a deep breath, ready to be called on. When the teacher said her name, she stood up a bit too fast, her chair scraping the floor loudly. She could hear Kano snickering, and Seto turned all the way around in his seat to give her a worried look. The girl in the front row was still staring, and Kido squared her shoulders.

“Hey,” she said, letting herself smile a bit. There was no need to scare off the whole class before the year even started. “Hope we have a peaceful year,” she added a bit lamely, hoping her wish would balance out Kano’s. She sat back down, her cheeks a bit warm from the attention.

A girl in the front was next, and she stood to give her introduction, but Kido couldn’t keep her attention on her. She tried, of course, wanting to be a good classmate, but her eyes kept sliding away from the stranger, and soon enough she found herself staring at the wood grain of her desk. As she stared, a square of paper entered her vision.

It came from the side of her desk where Kano sat, so she gave him a suspicious look as she unfolded it. ‘an unexpected sight!’ it read, ‘Kido’s smile was so heartwarming, I can’t help but think this will be a wonderful year after all.’

Was he serious? Kido glared over at him, and he wriggled his eyebrows. Since violence in the classroom was generally frowned upon, Kido had to make do with slowly crumpling the ball of paper, all the while staring him in the eye so that he knew she was picturing it to be his head.

She was so intent on her task that she missed Seto being called, and soon the teacher was done with the roster. She dropped the crumpled ball of paper into her bag to throw away later and leaned on the desk, returning her attention to the front of the classroom as the teacher began to speak again. It was going to be a long year.


	2. BLINDMAN

Seto had just gotten settled into his desk when the teacher spoke again.

"I’ll be rearranging you now!" The class groaned, but Seto found himself a looking forward to it. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to sit with his siblings, but it seemed like a chance to make new friends.

"I’m going to pass around this bowl. Please take a piece of paper from it and then find the desk with that number." The teacher pulled a container from behind her desk and handed it to a student in the first row, who took a slip and passed it on. Seto wondered if it was better that it was random or not. Either way, it probably wouldn’t have had an impact on the three of them. Since their family names were different, most teachers didn’t know they were siblings until they mentioned it, so there would be no chance of the teacher sitting them apart or together on purpose based on that fact.

The bowl arrived on Seto’s desk, and he fished out a scrap of paper, then passed it to the next person. With a look of trepidation over his shoulder at Kido and Kano, he unfolded it. A seat near the front, then. Good for his grades, he supposed, except for the increased danger of being called on in class. As the bowl went down the line behind him, he turned in his seat to see what the other two got.

Kido communicated to him through hand gestures that she had a corner in the back, on the other side of the classroom from where they were sitting now. Kano was in the back too, though he was directly in the center of the row. It seemed they were all split up, then. Seto expected to feel worried, but in actuality he was excited. He loved his siblings, but it seemed sometimes that they were too much of a self-contained unit, and he wanted to meet new people and make friends outside of the three of them. Well, then his new friends could become Kido and Kano’s friends too, and that would be alright.

With a smile, he collected his bag and jacket and stood up, waving at the two of them. “It’s goodbye for me, then,” he said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at the front of the classroom, where his destination was.

"Our little baby is all grown up," Kano sniffled, wiping away an invisible tear and fluttering at his heart with his other hand. Kido rolled her eyes, getting her things together and standing up as well.

"Don’t cause trouble," she said to the two of them, though they both knew where her warning was really directed. Then she headed for the far corner, and Seto went to find his desk.

It was easy enough; most of the other students had already found their seats, since they didn’t have to say any tearful goodbyes, and there was just one empty seat in the row he was headed for. He hung his jacket on the back of his chair and sat down, a little self conscious for being late.

Seto looked around, eager to meet his new neighbors. The boy on his right was deep in conversation with some other students, so he focused on the girl on his left.

She looked frightened, her fingers locked together in her lap and her shoulders hunched. Her hair hung forward over her shoulders, and he couldn’t really see her face. It was like she was trying to hide. A loud noise near the front drew his attention and he looked away, distracted.

As he looked around for the cause of the noise, he tried to put her at ease. “Good morning,” he said cheerfully, “we’ll be together for the next year, huh?” It might not be that long. In fact, it wasn’t unlikely that the teacher would rearrange their seats occasionally.

He found it hard to look at her, as though his gaze kept sliding away. “I think so,” she whispered, bowing her head further, so that more of her hair hid her face.

Well, she was a little bit strange. Seto made a mental note not to bother her again, and turned to see if his other neighbor was open for introductions yet. But the teacher was already calling the class’s attention back to her, and he sat up straight in his chair, eager to seem to be a good student for once.

The rest of the class period droned on with rules and introductions, and Seto found it hard to keep his good posture. His shoulders kept drooping, the desk and chair felt too small for his frame, and the wood grain on his desk really looked like a barking dog if he just added a few more lines here and there.

Lunchtime eventually arrived, and he stood up to stretch, his back aching from hunching over the desk. Kido and Kano met him with their lunch boxes that Kido had packed for them that morning, and Kano immediately hopped up to sit on the recently vacated desk of the boy Seto sat next to. “Let’s pull some desks together,” Kido said, looking around for a second one to claim.

"I think there’s an empty seat next to—" Seto turned to point at his other neighbor’s desk, only to find it still occupied. How had he forgotten she was there?

As he stared, Kano hopped off his perch, approaching her. “Hey, can we use your desk?” he asked, spreading spider fingers on her desk’s surface. She jerked in surprise and something snapped in the air, a feeling like ears popping. Whatever tired morning haze had been over Seto’s mind vanished.

Her position of staring up at the blond boy had pushed her hair back, and he could see her face now, round and chubby and with startling pink eyes.

"A-aren’t you a little young?" he blurted, not thinking. She glanced at him, and the shape of her face looked completely different from head on, longer and more mature. He felt stupid immediately.

Feeling like they’d been rude, at first demanding her desk and then saying she looked young to be in their grade, he added hastily, “you can eat with us if you want!”

Her eyes widened, and so did Kido’s. He could almost feel her confusion— they still needed one more desk, and they didn’t know this girl at all. But the strange girl nodded. “I’d like that,” she said softly, sounding weary.

They found another desk and dragged the four of them together, pushing them into a rectangle. They’d wasted too much time with seating arrangements, and hurried to open their lunchboxes. As Kano cooed with approval over his, Kido turned to their new classmate.

"I’m Kido Tsubomi," she said, business-like. Seto supposed it was rude that they hadn’t introduced themselves yet.

"Kano Shuuya," Kano added cheerfully, reaching over with his chopsticks to steal something from Kido’s lunch, though all three of them had the same thing. She slapped his hand away.

"It’s good to meet you," Seto said, trying to make up for the manners his siblings lacked as they dug into their lunches. "I’m Seto Kousuke. Er, it’s fine if you can’t keep track of us at first, I know we have similar names—"

"I’ll remember," the strange girl replied, meeting his eyes, and he felt a strange feeling crawl down his spine.

At the same time, Kido was muttering under her breath, ‘they’re not that similar’ and Seto chuckled.

"Are you gonna tell us your name?" Kano asked curiously, peering at her. That’s right, she hadn’t yet had a chance to introduce herself.

"It’s Kozakura," she said finally, "Kozakura Mary."

"Mary it is, then!" Kano cheered, a familiarity for which Seto kicked him under their desks. She looked startled, then bowed her head again, and Seto worried that his brother had hurt her feelings.

"Are you foreign?" Kano asked, undeterred. "Your name isn’t, but you look it, a little." Her being foreign wasn’t out of the question; her pale hair was a startling shade Seto struggled to call blond, and her eyes were strange as well. But she shook her head.

"I grew up nearby," she told him, looking obviously uncomfortable. Seto suddenly realized she didn’t have a lunch, and he frowned.

"Ah, then what a surprise we’ve never run into you before!" Kano exclaimed, "we’d definitely remember you if we had, with that hair. Right, Seto?"

"Right," he confirmed, though the off-hand answer just seemed to make Kozakura upset. "Look, do you want some of my lunch?" he asked, plowing onward. He felt Kido’s posture change next to him, and he knew right away that she’d only just noticed the girl’s empty desk as well.

"Oh no, I couldn’t…" He could tell Kozakura was regretting sitting with them, as she shrank back in her chair, but Kido was already setting her half-empty lunchbox down on the small girl’s desk.

"Please eat it," she said, "you’d be doing me a favor. I’m mysteriously full today." Seto looked at her with admiration; Kido always knew how to deal with any situation without offending the people involved.

Kozakura looked longingly at the lunchbox, and Seto produced a pair of spare clean chopsticks from his bag, and soon the small girl was eating eagerly. “Your cooking is wonderful,” she said reverently, raising her eyes to Kido’s, who looked away in embarrassment.

“It’s just a box lunch. You can’t judge based on that,” she muttered. Kozakura seemed convinced, however, and the boys agreed with her.

Kozakura finished the meal easily, and everyone else was done by then too, though there were still several minutes left before lunch was over. Kozakura seemed to cast around for a topic of conversation.

“Do you know which clubs you’re going to join?” she asked, her voice quiet.

Kido looked startled, and Seto realized with a laugh that she probably hadn’t even thought about it. She’d been so intent on getting he and Kano into this school that she’d neglected to really plan what they would do once the three of them got here.

“Ahh, I’ve been thinking about that.” Kano replied, and the other two glanced over at him in surprise. He hadn’t said a word to either of them about it. “But it’s a very hard decision, you know. Should I try for the drama club? Or use my natural charisma to seize power through the student council?”

Kozakura stared at him in disbelief. “He’s kidding,” Seto said, shooting him a worried look, “I think.”

“I’m not interested in someone else’s club,” Kido said loftily, though Seto was fairly sure she was trying to save face about not putting any thought into it at all. He nodded, also not sold on the idea.

“I don’t know if I’ll have time for that,” he added, “I was actually thinking about getting some sort of after-school job.”

“You can’t!” Kozakura objected, and they looked at her in confusion. She shrank back a little, confronted with their baffled expressions. “I mean… it’s high school. You only get one chance, right? You should enjoy it as much as possible…”

Seto hadn’t thought of it that way, and he tilted his head to the side as he thought it over. Kano slung an arm over his shoulder.

“Kozakura has a point,” he teased, “and we can’t let your grades fall any further, right?”

“It’s the first day. We don’t even have grades yet,” Seto argued, though he didn’t really mind Kano bringing it up. “Anyway, what about you?” he addressed the question to Kozakura, since she was the one who’d asked in the first place.

The lighthaired girl frowned, pressing her hand to her chin. She seemed about to speak, but the sounds of desks scraping interrupted her, and when they looked up, lunch was somehow over. Kido and Kano left to return to their respective corners, and Seto tidied up the mess that lunch had made on his desk. Kozakura handed him Kido’s empty lunchbox, which she’d forgotten to take back.

“Thanks,” he said, grateful, and by then the teacher was calling attention back to her, and there wasn’t time to talk anymore. He got his notebook from his bag, and prepared to take notes, though he was unable to stop his gaze from wandering curiously to his neighbor once or twice during the lesson.


	3. SHARKS

Kano found it difficult to concentrate in class. The teacher was just reviewing things from last year anyway, and he was fairly sure he’d found them boring even then. What was occupying his thoughts instead was the girl in the front row.

Kozakura, she’d said her name was. From the moment class had begun she’d been staring at the three of them. Kido and Seto had glanced at her once or twice, and he couldn’t believe that they hadn’t seen how steadily she was watching them. In fact, they seemed almost unable to see her at all. It was almost creepy.

He looked down at his desk, trying to at least pretend to pay attention, but he could still feel her red eyes boring into him. Of course, she wasn’t watching him anymore. Once the three of them had been split up, she’d seemed upset, maybe because Seto had been seated next to her. Kano wondered if she was afraid of them. There had been some nasty rumors about them in grade school, but he didn’t think that any high school student would actually believe that one of their classmates was anything scary or supernatural. Although, seeing the white-haired girl (and her hair was white, the color of bone, an impossible shade for someone who looked so young), he was starting to believe it.

He’d scared her when he’d pointed her out before. Why did she keep thinking he couldn’t see her? She was sitting there plain as day.

The question troubled him all through the lesson, and he tried to distract himself by drawing a vaguely insulting picture of he and Kido’s wedding. He put her in the suit and himself in the dress. He was sure she wouldn’t mind.

Unfortunately, with the new seating arrangements, he didn’t have a way to show her his masterpiece. He slid it into his notebook, sulking, before having a brilliant idea. Carefully, he folded the paper into the smallest rectangle possible, and slipped it up the sleeve of his blazer. Then he flung his hand into the air and waited for the teacher to call on him. When she did, he stood up.

"I have to pee," he informed the teacher, and heard waves of titters sweep through the classroom. Various girls were giggling, covering their mouths, and he winked at one, only making her laugh harder. In the front, Seto was turned all the way around in his seat, his face one of horror at Kano’s rudeness. Kido was doing her best not to look at him. He could tell.

The teacher thought Kano was impertinent. It was written all over her face. But she sighed. “It’s the first day of class, so I’ll let it go, but in the future try to go beforehand. If it’s an emergency, you can go.”

"Phew!" Kano sighed in relief, and as he crossed the classroom on his way to the door, he slipped the folded piece of paper from his sleeve and onto Kido’s desk. There was no way to find out how she’d reacted, since it would give him away, but he grinned anyway as he exited.

The hallway was empty. This wasn’t a surprise, since class was currently in session. But Kano didn’t really know where the bathroom was, and obviously he didn’t actually have to go. As far as he could tell, his plan had gone off without a hitch, and he was pleased with himself. He wandered down the hall, idly looking for some sign to tell him where the bathroom could be. This was nice. Getting lost would be a marvelous excuse, and he wouldn’t have to sit through class thinking about Kozakura and her creepy stare. If she was trying to kidnap one of them or eat their souls or whatever, he would at least be on guard when the other two couldn’t.

He was walking through the halls when a crash brought his attention. Could something interesting be happening in this place? He doubted it, but nonetheless he made his way towards the noise. It seemed to be coming from a classroom, and as he rounded the corner, a tall man backed out of the room, hands help up in defense.

"Alright, alright, we’ll have the test next week when he gets back. See? Much better."

There was an muffled scream of anger, and the man hastily closed the door. Something hit it with a thunk. Kano grinned. He recognized both the sound of a missile missing its mark, and the man standing before him.

"Hey Dad," he said cheerfully, skipping over to join him.

The man dragged a hand through his hair, looking weary. “Ah, Shuuya. Did the middle school let out early?”

Kano faked a pout. “I’m in high school now! Look at my blazer.” He flipped up the collar of his jacket proudly. It didn’t surprise him that Kenjirou couldn’t remember what grade he was in. Obviously, he had other things to worry about, if that crash was anything to go by.

"Anyway, who’s the loudmouth in there?" Kano stood on tiptoe to peer in, catching a glimpse of a girl with messy pigtails hunched over a desk. She didn’t seem to be throwing things at the moment, at least. Kenjirou pulled him away from the door, as if afraid she’d look up and see them.

"She’s one of my students. She should have graduated years ago, but…" Kenjirou hesitated, as if unsure if he should be spilling his students secrets. Weren’t there rules about confidentiality? But this was really not much different than telling stories about his day around the dinner table. "She and the other boy in that class both got sick around two years ago, and it really set them back. They’re doing a lot better now." He heaved a sigh, looking again towards the classroom. "Or at least, they were."

"Other boy?" Kano asked, curious. As far as he could see, the angry girl had been all alone in there.

Kenjirou nodded, and he looked tired. “He collapsed at lunchtime. That’s probably what’s got her so worked up. They’ve been stuck working together for a long time, so they’re pretty close.”

The younger boy nodded slowly. It made sense to him. If someone in his class collapsed, he was sure several of his classmates would be freaking out. Kenjirou was steeling himself to go back inside, and Kano waved a goodbye to him, before setting off to explore the school more. It was a miracle that Kenjirou hadn’t asked him why he was just walking around like this, but it was clear the adult had other things on his mind.

…

Kano only returned to the classroom near the end of the period, and the teacher gave him a long look as he came in but didn’t call him out. He figured he was going to get a stern talking-to later, so as soon as the class was over he slipped out, waiting for his siblings in the hallway.

Kido was first emerge, and her eyes narrowed when she saw him. Seto was following her, surprisingly accompanied by Kozakura, who was talking his ear off about something. She’d seemed shy, if a bit sinister, so Kano was surprised she’d opened up so quickly.

"That dragged on forever," he whined, pouting, and Kido rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"You weren’t even there for half of it," she reminded him, and that made him snicker, because it was true.

"Did you like my picture?"

"Threw it away. Didn’t even look at it." Kido shouldered through students as they made their way to the door, and Kano slipped through the crowd in the wake she made. Since she’d grown more confident in her existence as a child, she hadn’t been afraid to push and shove at strangers in a very long time.

"So mean," he complained as he trotted to keep up with her longer strides, "I worked hard on that for you." She didn’t respond.

Outside, it was slightly less crowded, and the two waited for Seto and Kozakura to catch up with them. Kozakura seemed to be talking about some bakery or shop she’d been to lately, gesturing wildly with her small hands.

"It’s really cute," she insisted, "you should go sometime."

Seto nodded, and opened his mouth to reply, but her face lit up with a smile and she looked up at him, stopping him in his tracks.

"We could go right now, if you want."

It didn’t really seem to be up to him.

"I’ll see you two at the house," Seto said helplessly as the smaller girl towed him away. Kano watched them go with a slight bit of trepidation. If she was some kind of demon or something, then that meant Seto was probably about to become the first victim. But Kano didn’t believe that enough to call out to him or get him to come back. She was probably just a sort of creepy girl, and the worst that could happen was Seto would have some hilarious story when he got home.

"Let’s go home," Kido said, and she sounded tired. Kano figured that’s what she got for actually paying attention in class.

…

They arrived at the house mostly one piece, though Kano limped comically due to Kido kicking him in the kneecaps for trying to support her on the train ride home. They let themselves in.

Kano immediately peeled off his jacket and hung it on the back of a chair. Kido frowned.

"How long are you going to wear your winter jacket?" It was starting to get warmer, and most everyone else had stopped wearing theirs to school by this point.

Kano left the black hoodie he wore under it on, but it was short sleeved like is uniform shirt, and he stretched out his arms to admire the pockmarks and scars from his childhood.

"Maybe I won’t wear it tomorrow," he said carelessly, turning his hands over to see the undersides of his wrists. The sight was familiar and not one that grossed him out. Kido didn’t seem frightened or disgusted either. In fact, she hardly spared the scars a second glance, instead focusing her eyes on his face.

She didn’t seem satisfied with that answer. “They’ll ask you about those,” she said, and Kano gave a lopsided shrug.

"I don’t care. I’ll just tell ‘em they’re from you, it’s not that much of a stretch." He’d meant it as a joke, as a way to throw her off from talking about it, but her reaction was immediate.

"Don’t you dare," she said, and was she actually shaking with rage? Kano laughed at the ridiculous sight.

"Calm down," he said, his voice nonchalant, and flapped his hand in her direction as though fanning her.

She did not calm down. “If you ever compare me to that woman again, I’ll— I’ll—”

Kano blinked at her. He didn’t want to talk about this at all, but somehow his mouth would not stop running. “You can’t really judge, right? It’s not like you’ve met her—”

"I have," Kido gritted out between her teeth, and he froze.

They stared at each other for several seconds, and then Kido slowly began to speak. “When we’d been here a year— maybe two— she found you. She found us. She came here, and she was screaming at Ayaka, screaming that they’d taken you…”

She didn’t continue. She didn’t have to. Kano remembered the terror flooding him, remembered being crouched by the foot of his bed, in the middle of tidying some mess he’d made. He remembered her voice screaming his name up the stairs.

He’d had no idea Kido had been home too. Long after her voice had faded, after their adoptive parents had managed to convince her that she had the wrong house, that the documents she’d stolen had been incorrect, he’d climbed out the window, re-entering with a smile and acting like nothing was wrong at all.

"Hey!" Kido said sharply, and he shook the memories away. "Anyway, I don’t want you saying anything like that, okay? I hate that woman more than anything in the world."

It was such a grand statement that Kano couldn’t help but giggle a little bit, swallowing back the burn in his throat that threatened to bring tears to his eyes. More than anything in the world? She should think about protecting herself first. After all, her family was still out there, even if her father was in an institution for snapping and trying to set fire to the house. Thank god it had been caught in time.

"Alright, I’ll think of something more impressive. What if I caught a bear?"

Kido looked at him like that was the stupidest thing she’d ever heard, and he laughed harder. Definitely a bear.

The phone rang, and she got up to get it, ever diligent, and Kano went to go get a snack before starting on avoiding his homework. Crisis averted. Maybe he would wear the jacket tomorrow after all.


End file.
